Toy making

November 25, 2012

In the run-up to Christmas there are always a lot of gifts to make. This year it’s not the usual round of hand-warmers and socks for friends and relies; this year I am assuming my role as Santa’s helper — I’m busy making toys.

Pictured above is Gort. I actually started knitting Gort way back in June, immediately after finishing Baldwin. He was sitting on my shelf for ages, knitted and stuffed, but for some reason I couldn’t quite get around to embroidering a face onto him. The motivation to get him finished was that little D’s nursery were asking for contributions for the raffle and tombola at their Christmas fayre and I figured that he would be a suitable gift. Of course, once I had put a face onto him he took on a whole new character and I must say I was a little bit sad to part with him. I do hope he will find a good home and make somebody happy!

Next up is sssomething to go in sssomeone’s Chrissstmas ssssstocking. Sssssssh, it’s a sssssecret! All the reviews that I read about this pattern seem to say that it’s a quick knit but it actually took me what seemed like forever. I’m not the world’s speediest knitter and my knitting time is very limited these days — and I chose to knit it in lighter yarn and smaller needles that the pattern suggested (for no other reason than to use up stashed yarn) which may have been a mistake, from a time-management perspective anywyay. It’s actually a very clever pattern, using a circular needle and two balls of yarn, yet knitted flat — carrying each over a row so there are no ends to weave in and no seaming. I love the end result and I can’t wait to see what little D will think of him.

And last but not least, an amigurumi platypus! I’ve never bought one of those knitting/crochet-kit magazines before — you know the ones that come with “free” yarn and needles/hooks with which to make the projects inside — and I’m not really sure what possessed me to start now, but there was something that caught my eye about this one. It’s never particularly easy to get to the yarn shop as a working mum and I suppose I liked the idea that I could pick this up in the supermarket and have everything at my fingertips that I’d need to make some quick, fun projects — no hours of scouring the Internet for interesting patterns, no rummaging through boxes of yarn looking for suitable scraps whilst trying to stop the boy unravelling balls of favourite/saved cashmerino, no wondering where on earth I left my 3.5mm hook. Easy. And I must say I wasn’t disappointed. It wasn’t the nicest yarn to work with but to be fair it was perfect for the job in hand and I suspect I shall make a few more of the little creatures from this mag – they make perfect stocking-fillers.

I’m now working on a particularly colourful crochet toy project — something I’ve been wanting to make for over a year — which will be a gift for little D’s cousin. Looking forward to sharing it with you!